This is a study of infant feeding practices among arab Bedouins residing in the Negev, Israel. The objectives are: infant feeding practices at birth and changes during the first year of life and relationships to physical growth and to gastrointestinal and respiratory morbidity during the first 18 months of age. The data base includes information on 5,000 mother-infant pairs, and represents the total population of Bedouin births during the years 1981 and 1982. Two subsamples have been identified for follow-up; one at birth and followed for a period of 5-81 months. Another sample of children was identified at 6 months of age and followed prospectively to 18 months of age. Two additional manuscripts have been published from this data set during 1992, one, dealing with the factors influencing milk insufficiency and its long term health effects and the other of the accuracy of maternal recall of infant feeding events.